纽约上诉法院说

A Federal Appeals Court in New York reversed prior decisions and decided that statements in a NASD Notice of Termination Form U-5 are subject to absolute privilege from defamation actions. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association claim the ruling is a victory for investors and that firms will now be encouraged, rather than discouraged, from offering investors full disclosure regarding a broker that has participated in any wrongful actions. Yet, observers believe it is the brokerage industry itself that won a victory.

In Judge Victoria A. Graffeo’s opinion, the court discussed that Chaskie Rosenberg was hired as a financial services representative in 1997 for defendant Metropolitan Life Insurance Company’s All-Boro agency. Based in Brooklyn, the agency served members of the local Hasidic Jewish community. Most of its employees were also Hasidic Jews.

MetLife performed an agency audit in 1999 because the agency accepted third-party checks to pay for life insurance policy premiums. Following another audit, MetLife shut the agency down and moved employees to a different office. Rosenberg was let go after a third audit by MetLife. ‘

大都会人寿在终止通知声明中说，罗森伯格似乎违反了与投机保险销售有关的政策，他可能是洗钱违规行为的附属。大都会人寿还说，罗森伯格（Rosenberg）因违反与投资有关的法规而进行了调查。

罗森伯格提起诉讼，指控违反合同，就业歧视，诽谤和其他诉讼原因。他说，大都会人寿忽略了被认为是hasidic贷款惯例 - 可以在不以他或她的名字命名的帐户上绘制客户支票，并且不必被视为第三方付款。

陪审团裁定罗森伯格，法院驳回了其余指控。关于罗森伯格的诽谤主张，它说，大都会人寿在表格U-5的陈述绝对具有特权。罗森伯格提起上诉，美国第二巡回上诉法院要求高等法院权衡特权问题。

The state high court ruled in favor of MetLife, noting that although absolute privilege is usually reserved for communications by individuals engaged in a public function, it can also apply to “preliminary or investigative stages of the process, particularly where compelling public interests are at stake.”

The court said that the NASD is the biggest securities self-regulation organization subject to SEC oversight and that it has the authority to enforce the 1934 Securities Exchange Act requirements, in addition to being the main regulator for the brokerage industry. The court noted that investigating and adjudicating suspected SEC and NASD violations is one of NASD’s primary roles and that it is entitled to question individuals, examine documents, engage in disciplinary proceedings, and impose sanctions and fines.

法院说，U-5表格在NASD的自我调节过程中起着重要作用，必须在雇员终止后30天内由雇主提起。U-5表格是NASD的第一个通知，即证券行业参与者可能从事可能的不当行为，然后可以允许Nbob200体育ASD启动纪律处分。U-5表格还允许会员公司调查员工候选人的背景。因此，法院得出的结论是，公众的利益是由U-5表格提交的，雇主就表格上的陈述在诽谤索赔中遭受“绝对特权”。

威廉·S·谢泼德（William S. Shepherd）是一名律师，他曾代表股票经纪人，声称经纪公司已诽谤他们，他们声称这是一个了不起的决定。“这是一家非常有竞争力的业务，公司在离开时经常对经纪人进行报复。一些公司甚至告诉经纪人“我们会流血您的U-5”，以免他们将客户带到另一家公司。这个决定说的是，经纪公司可以撒谎，那些离开公司的经纪人 - 只是诽谤了他们，并免于诉讼。怎么会这样？这是黄金法则：拥有黄金的人制定了规则！也许股票经纪人和其他人应该开始考虑“新品种”法官是否正在保护其权利。”

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